


chemical reaction

by kareofbears



Series: Escapril [7]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fluff, Gen, futaba is a CHILD and dont forget it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:53:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23533369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kareofbears/pseuds/kareofbears
Summary: It started out cute, welcomed even.But now it's a little different.(In which Futaba experiences what it's like to have two older brothers.)
Relationships: Kurusu Akira & Sakura Futaba, Niijima Makoto & Sakura Futaba, Sakamoto Ryuji & Sakura Futaba
Series: Escapril [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685116
Comments: 9
Kudos: 143





	chemical reaction

**Author's Note:**

> anyone out there playing royal? i love it but i miss the characters who arent in the game yet (ergo, a futaba centered fic)

It started out cute, welcomed even.

Whenever Akira saw Futaba, he would give her a hug (only after he made sure she was comfortable with it—he's nice like that). Sometimes he'd playfully nudge her with his shoulder when they walk side by side. She'd yell at him and he'd only laugh and do it again. Maybe this is just how he expresses his friendship—in Futaba's case, where she had all of one friend in her life, it's something she treasures. Not that she'd ever say that out loud.

It's the same with Ryuji; she's not nearly as close to him as she is with Akira (mostly because he's an idiot, but that has its own charm, in a way), but he's also just as _touchy._ He'd come to visit Akira in LeBlanc and ruffle her hair on her way upstairs, dodging her thrown spoon with ease. When he's excited about something, he'd grab her shoulders almost unconsciously and shake her with enthusiasm, screaming the whole time.

But now it's a little different.

Instead of a nice, warm hug from Akira, he'd squeeze so hard that she swore she heard something creak inside of her. Instead of a playful nudge, Akira would full on body check her and catch her right before she hits the ground, apologising profusely but still grinning like a maniac. Instead of hair ruffles, Ryuji would opt for flicking her in the forehead before sprinting away, and him shaking her would often leave her a bit light-headed.

What is _happening?_

Instead of confronting her problems head on, she decides to opt for an intel mission—after all, you can't progress the mission if you don't know how to get to the next arch.

So who is she comfortable enough to talk to, who isn't a complete idiot, and is nice enough not to tease her about this?

Makoto is sitting on the booth across from her in an empty LeBlanc, surrounded by textbooks, pencils, and one very expensive looking water bottle that college kids seem to gravitate to when Futaba brings it up.

"Why do Akira and Ryuji bully me?"

She looks up, expression quizzical. "Bully might be a strong word."

"My ribs _hurt_ from his hugs, Makoto!" She whines. "Do you know how many times Ryuji's messed up my hair this week alone? Too many! Is it a guy thing? Or just a people thing? Do they hate me or something?"

Makoto blinks, before an expression of understanding dawns on her. "Oh, that's right. You've never had siblings, haven't you?"

"Uh," What does that have to do with anything? "No."

"This is fantastic timing Futaba," Makoto puts her pencil down, eyes glimmering in a way that means she's about to educate someone on something she finds interesting—what a nerd. "This is actually in my biology final, so this is basically revision."

She tucks a stray hair behind her before continuing. "Do you know what 'cute aggression' is?"

Futaba frowns. "I specialize in computers, not...whatever that is."

"Okay, well, when someone finds something extremely cute, for example, a bunny, people get excited because the brain's reward system and the brain's happiness system is being activated at the same time."

"Uh-huh." She still doesn't know where she's going with this.

"And that's bad, because too much of one thing happening is not considered good. So what does your brain do? It tries to balance it out by producing the _opposite_ feeling of cuteness."

Futaba frowns. "What, like, crying?"

"Aggression." Makoto corrects, hands moving animatedly. "When too much cuteness is happening, the brain tries to correct it by making the person experience violent tendencies. That's why older siblings tend to wrestle and bully their younger siblings a lot. I used to be subjected to a lot of pranks when I was a toddler.” She laughs. “Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"Oh." She doesn't know why, but Futaba's chest is extremely warm. "They see me like a younger sibling?"

"Essentially, yes. At the very least, something very cute that they want to destroy."

"Whoa." Her mind reels, trying to formulate her own plan as a thank you to her apparent new brothers. "So...violence and aggression is a good thing?"

Makoto's eyes widen. "N-no, I didn't say—"

The bell chimes behind them, Ryuji stepping in through the threshold. "What's bonkin’, ladies?"

Futaba snatches Makoto's water bottle. "Can I borrow this? Thank you." She unscrews it before half-running to Ryuji.

"Yo, Futaba! Didja see how I used bonkin'? I'm trying to—Ack!" Futaba thrusts her hand forward, dumping an entire water bottle on Ryuji's face. "What the hell?!"

Futaba turns around, giving Makoto a thumbs up. "How was that?"

Makoto gives a weak smile, and makes a mental note to warn Akira later.

**Author's Note:**

> yes, i did study cute aggression for psych 280


End file.
